The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-04-21

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otherwise would drag slowly. When l
lived in the highlands, I entered into this
spirit of comradeship with animals, and
derived much pleasure from watching the
smaller rodents at work and at play
around my cabin.
The most interesting of these animals
is the mountain, or trading rat, which
has queer and crooked development of
the commercial instinct, and the animal
which stands next to the trading rat, on
my list, for the interest it excites, is the
snowshoe rabbit.
A few years ago was living alone in
cabin which stood on golden gravel in
a remote Rocky Mountain valley. One
morning, when was preparing to work
in my mine, l thrust my right foot into
one of my heavy rubber boots. 1t was
filled with something. turned the boot
upside down and shook it. Out fell
small bones, little stones, chips, pieces of
sun-dried mud, and bits of cloth. There
was quart of the litter. 1t was triv-
ial annoyance, but 1t worried me be-
cause l thought some person had entered
my cabin while slept, and had filed my
boot to show how easily could have
been robbed while slept. Occasionally
during that day thought of the rubbish
filled boot, but by night had for
gotten the incident, and went to bed
and to sleep, to find my boot again
filled with rubbish on the following morn
ing. Boot in hand sat on log in front
of my cabin and gazed angrily into it.
| resolved to lie awake the succeeding
night and wa ch for the intruder who
was amusing himself by playing pranks
on me. That day I slept, and looked
and longed for the setting of the sun.
When the full moon rose above the pines,
and the park which lay in front of my
door was tangle of fantastic shadows,
l opened the door of my cabin so as to
admit all the light possible, and placed
my boots in the slowly shifting parallel
ogram of silver light, and then, equipped
to interview my nocturnal visitor in a
manner which would have been highly
disagreeable to him, I got into bed and
waited for his coming. Presently I
heard noise among the supporting poles
of the dirt roof over me. Listening in
tently / heard an animal slowly descend
from log to log. saw 1t indistinctly
as 1t crossed the esrthen floor. Then 1t
stood motionless in the moonlight by my
boots. saw its white breast and short,
hairy tail. 1t stood looking at my boots
with apparent interest for minute; then
walked to box in which l kept dried
fruit, picked up prune with its
mouth and slowly clambered up the logs
and disappeared in the roof. In few
seconds 1t came down the wall again and
picked up chip, which it carried into
one OF my boots and left there. Again It
took q prune, and again it deposited
chip in the boot. Greatly relieved to
find that / had been annoyed by an
animal instead of by man, I lay in my
bunk and interestedly watched the rat
conduct the most One-sided commercial
transaction had ever seen. 1t stole my
provisions, and apparently endeavored
to stifle Its conscience by pretending to
trade with me. My heart went out to
the four-legged thief, and did not in
terfere with its swap. The next day I
discovered it's nest, and found in It q
couple of pounds of dried fruit which 1t
had stored, probably for winters use.
That rat and I became the best of
friends. He became comparatively tame,
so much 90 that he would leave his nest
during the day and descend into the
Dom. He would sit ON the lower wall
log and look at me through keen, black
eyes, which twinkled intelligently, to see
II was going to make any hostile demon
stration. Satisfied that was In friendly
mood, he would cautiously investigate
the state of my larder, and II had left
anything edible uncovered he would seize
1t with his sharp teeth and carry 1t to his
nest. Then slowly descending the wall,
log by log, and sttentively watching me
the while, he would pick up small stick,
chip, bone, anything, and drop II into
the box from which he had pilfered. In
varisbly he placed the rubbish which hs
Traded n The boz Or can from which h
took the article thst pleassd NJ laney,
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